Anthony Yigit suffers brutal eye injury in defeat to Ivan Baranchyk

Anthony Yigit incredibly wanted to fight on.

Yigit was deemed unable to continue in his fight for the vacant IBF super-lightweight world title on Saturday night as opponent Ivan Baranchyk walked away with the belt.

Sweden's Yigit had never experienced defeat as a professional before but an eye injury forced an end to the bout in New Orleans as a massive hematoma swelled up on Yigit's orbital bone, restricting his vision considerably.

Yigit's left eye showed signs of damage after two punishing rounds from Baranchyk at the start and it left a clear target for the undefeated Belarusian for the remainder of the fight.

The bruising was followed by a cut and then came the gruesome swelling which effectively closed Yigit's eye completely.

For anyone not watching the fight. This is the eye injury that was the cause of the fight being stopped. Yigit was a mess. pic.twitter.com/cjPlcL470k

It was at the end of the seventh round that question marks arrived over Yigit's ability to see punches coming and the decision was made to save him from further damage by pulling him out of the fight, much to Yigit's annoyance.